Over the past several years, a variety of vehicle electronics products have been developed to assist drivers, and provide vehicle operating, trip and diagnostic information. This is particularly true in long-haul trucks, where a number of options are available such as collision warning systems, adaptive cruise control, and wireless communication systems. Some collision warning systems use radar to apprise the driver of collision dangers. Adaptive cruise control is an advanced feature of collision warning systems that uses radar and the vehicle's cruise control system to maintain a desired following distance (called "headway"). In addition to these new electronics products, existing components now typically include electronic controls that can provide additional vehicle diagnostic and operating data.
While these electronic products can provide useful information to the driver, they can also overload the driver with information. Even with careful design of displays and indicator lights for each new feature, the driver can easily become overwhelmed by the displays associated with these new products. As such, the driver may ignore, or worse, become distracted by the displays.